Agenda item

This report sets performance against the Council’s Key Measures of Success for the second quarter of 2012/13. 

Discussion:

The Assistant Director for Communications, Performance and Partnerships asked the committee about the circulation of papers provided for the performance report which included lengthy performance tables on A3 paper, as this was provided for Members on several occasions: with the Cabinet agenda; in full for this committee and then again in a shortened format for each of the other overview and scrutiny committees. The committee was asked, if the information was produced in one full set for the Cabinet agenda, whether Members would wish to keep those papers available for the other committee meetings, rather than re-printing it each time. The Chief Finance Officer suggested this could also include the quarterly revenue and capital budget monitoring papers included in the Cabinet agenda. Members responded that to avoid the cost and duplication of printing reports more than once, officers should investigate the business case for Members to access papers electronically using tablets/laptops for future agendas.

The Assistant Director introduced the report advising that the committee was provided with all the performance indicators, as it had a cross-cutting role for performance, although it had no indicators within its own service remit. Members were advised that overall the majority of indicators remained satisfactory and were travelling in the right direction, with the exception of W5 Satisfaction with how the council deals with graffiti, where alternative survey methods were being explored, CP1 Children’s participation in child protection conferences, H14 Average length of stay in B&B of households with dependent children or pregnant women and NI 117 16 to 18 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Members acknowledged the issues of concern but commented that all the other indicators were positive and in particular LRCC1 Number of visitors to tourist attractions in Medway was the highest ever recorded. The committee asked that officers were thanked for their work on this indicator.

A Member asked that as the council currently exceeded its recycling rates (paragraph 7.4 of the report) and would soon move to a weekly recycling collection, rather than fortnightly, would this target be amended. He also drew attention to the implementation of the bus lane enforcement by static CCTV units operating in and around Chatham bus station (paragraph 5.3 of the report) and advised that Members had previously expressed concern about the number of tickets issued to people who lived outside of Medway and who were probably following their satellite navigation system rather than looking at the road signs. The possibility of making the road through the bus station (no longer open to traffic) a different colour and officers were asked if there had been any progress on this matter.

Officers responded that the recycling target rate would be considered for the 2013/2014 Council Plan in light of the change to weekly recycling collections, and undertook to provide information on the number of tickets issued to motorists driving through Chatham bus station, if possible, in time for the meeting of the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 13 December.

The committee also discussed the performance indicator NI 73 Achievement at Level 4 or above in both English and Maths at Key Stage 2 and recent Phonic test results stating that to be bottom of the national league table caused the gravest concern and was not good enough for Medway’s young people. Members did also acknowledge that a review into improving Key Stage 2 results had taken place in March 2012 and that it would take time for the actions from that review to be implemented and bring about improvements.

The committee also discussed the following indicators and asked for further information:

·        Youth unemployment and NEET – a future possible topic for an in-depth review during 2013/2014, with particular emphasis on those leaving care

·        NI 4 The percentage of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality – the target was not a positive one, as the target meant that two out of three people would not feel empowered

·        Street cleaning – officers had previously stated that they worked to the “Keep Britain Tidy” campaign indicator and Members asked for an explanation of how this national indicator was judged

·        The number of households living in temporary accommodation (paragraph 3.8 of the report) – Members asked that the definitions used were explained as they believed them to be too low, taking into account the range of temporary accommodation providers in Medway

·        Fostering – Members asked how long the process took from when a member of the public expressed interest in being a foster carer to being accepted as one

·        Everybody travelling easily around Medway – Members questioned the validity of the survey used for tracking levels of congestion and how quickly people could get around Medway, as most residents would disagree and Members could not defend this information as currently set out

·        Traffic flow – the Chairman of the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee undertook to ensure that traffic flow, especially in Chatham town centre, was included in a task group review about to be undertaken on street clutter

·        Jobseekers allowance (paragraph 6.2 of the report) – Members requested this information broken down by ward

·        Fines for littering – Members were disappointed with the low number of notices issued, on average, by Community Officers and requested officers to be more pro-active in this area, especially in town centres

·        Targets achieved with ease each quarter – Members stated that these were obviously not set high enough, in order to raise standards, and asked why the council monitored them or if targets could not be strectched

·        Other statistics the council collected, not detailed in this report – Members asked if those statistics under-performed and how Councillors would get to see this.

The Assistant Director for Communications, Performance and Partnerships responded that officers would provide the information requested via a Briefing Note. She advised that the wider portfolio of statistics collected by the council were reported at directorate level and if it showed a level of concern this would be flagged to the Corporate Management Team. The indicators used in the 2012/2013 Council Plan should be the most important and relevant at a corporate level. If Members wished to see other indicators reported through the Council Plan quarterly monitoring reports they should raise this with officers, as the development of the 2013/2104 Council Plan was currently on-going. She would raise Members aspirations for challenging and reasonable targets to be within the plan with the directorate teams when setting the Council Plan for 2013/2014.

Decision:

The committee agreed to:

(a)         note the second quarter performance against the Key Measures of Success used to monitor progress against the Council Plan 2012/2013;

(b)         request that officers report to this committee with a business case for Members to use electronic means for committee agendas in the future;

(c)         request that the Jobseekers allowance information is broken down by ward and sent to Members via a Briefing Note;

(d)         thank officers for their work to ensuring that indicator LRCC1 Number of visitors to tourist attractions in Medway was the highest ever recorded;

(e)         request that information is given at the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 13 December on the number of tickets issued to residents living outside Medway and repeat offenders who drive through Chatham Bus Station, or if not available for that meeting as part of the next performance report;

(f)           request information via a Briefing Note on how the “Keep Britain Tidy” standard for littering is used by officers to judge the cleanliness of streets;

(g)         request that the definitions used in paragraph 3.6 of the report with regard to the number of households in temporary accommodation are explained via a Briefing Note;

(h)         request further information via a Briefing Note on how long the process took from when a member of the public expressed interest in being a foster carer to being accepted as one;

(i)           request further information via a Briefing Note on the validity of the survey used to report on the Everybody travelling easily around Medway indicators;

(j)            request that Community Officers are more pro-active with issuing notices for littering, especially in town centres;

(k)         advise the Corporate Management Team that no targets should be set lower than the previous year when the target had been easily achieved during each quarter of the preceding year;

(l)            request that the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee undertook to ensure that traffic flow, especially in Chatham town centre, was included in a task group review about to be undertaken on street clutter.